Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Bolt Action - Grudge Matches

Recently I made the long trip to chilly Canberra from an equally chilly Melbourne, to take part in an incredible experience: Wintercon. Wintercon was my first interstate tournament and it was with a sense of excitement that I made the trip as I knew I was going to be throwing dice with a new friend, rival and now nemesis. I had grudged one of most well known names in our community: Patch. Now the result of our match was completely inconsequential. Win, loss or draw, I knew I'd walk away with a smile on my face because I knew full well that there would be laughter, maybe some tears and afterward our friendship would be stronger for having met one another on the field of battle.

Grudge matches are an excellent opportunity for any player, no matter their level of experience, to be able to pick out an opponent and throw dice. I've had a few grudge matches over my short time in BA and every time they've ended with a smile, a handshake and generally a good laugh. Because we have such a small community, it's common that we see one another frequently during our local events. In fact, after the last 3 Melbourne based events, I can count on seeing familiar faces everytime a new event comes along. So when we hit the road and travel somewhere new, it's great to find new and unfamiliar faces to roll against.

A recent match at G-patrol saw me go head to with BA legend, Dave-o-War and despite the fact I got smacked up and down the table, I couldn't have been happier with the fact I got to go toe-to-toe and see how a veteran deploys, lists and moves his toys about. Grudge matches are about having fun, meeting new people, learning new techniques and enjoying the fact that you aren't playing the same small group of guys from your local gaming club.

Patch has already written an excellent article on our match so I won't bore you with the details but I will say this, Patch and I were friends before our game, now we're mates (buddy/pal/comrade/etc.). That is the great thing about grudging someone, you find someone who you like, admire or want to test yourself against and call them out. The ensuing back and forth is much like professional wrestling, it's very tongue in cheek and once it's all done and dusted you can sit back, relax and get insight from someone who may have a very different strategic mind to yours.

In short guys, whether it is someone from one of our podcasts (Lachlan I'm looking at you for the next event you come to) a regular contributor to WWPD (Bryan I'm looking for a rematch) or maybe even someone who posts their amazing work on our Facebook page (Seb Burlage, if we ever cross paths!!!!) shoot them a message, call them out and throw dice in the name of fun, because honestly guys, that's what our game is all about.